


We've Got A Big Mess On Our Hands

by QueenoftheDustPeople



Series: Lirrieverse [4]
Category: Little Mix (Band), One Direction (Band)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-14
Updated: 2016-01-14
Packaged: 2018-05-13 20:32:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5716123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenoftheDustPeople/pseuds/QueenoftheDustPeople
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Being Liam's plus-one at the Grammys has some unintended consequences.</p>
            </blockquote>





	We've Got A Big Mess On Our Hands

The lights are blinding. An ocean of flickers and flashes makes her want to squint but she manages to keep a wide eyed smile. Liam's hand, resting casually but carefully on the small of her back, helps keep her focus. She's his plus one for the Grammys-- _the Grammys_ \--and she'd spent an abnormal amount of time getting ready this morning. She needs to look flawless tonight and if that means being a little more narcissistic than usual, she'll accept it.

 

One of the workers ushers them along down the red carpet and soon the camera flashes are paired with people shouting their names. Perrie breaks away from Liam, who's immediately pulled into a question on his solo career possibilities, to go talk to a woman a little farther down. She'd been hoping for some question on her and the girls, maybe even an opening into discussing some US promo, but instead she's hit with "So, Perrie, how does it feel to be here with Liam Payne tonight?"

 

She blinks, trying to recover quickly, "It's wonderful. He's a great guy and we're very happy."

 

The woman's eyes narrow like a bird closing in for the kill, "Your ex-fiance, Zayn Malik, is also here tonight. What do you think you'll say if you run into him?"  
 

Perrie's throat closes off and so does her air supply. She blurts out, "I don't have anything to say to him," which is probably too blunt of an answer to be media savvy.

 

"What about to his girlfriend, Gigi Hadid? They just walked the red carpet together!" Perrie grits her teeth but keeps smiling. She's saved from figuring out another answer by Liam popping up again.

 

"I'm sure they looked great, just like we do," he chirps, charming as ever, before swiftly guiding Perrie away.

 

"Did you know he was going to be here?" Perrie asks him through clenched teeth.

 

Liam hums, pulling her a bit closer, "I'd heard it was a possibility. Don't worry about it, alright? The odds of us running into each other are probably slim." She nods, forces herself to let out a long breath, and then leans into him a bit more. He kisses her forehead and the camera lights flash even brighter.

 

///

 

"You're between us, Pez," Niall murmurs as their group is ushered to their seats. Perrie hums, gathering her dress up gracefully and sitting down between Liam and Niall. Liam had told her beforehand about the seating switch, which had come when Louis had, in his usual sarcastic tone, pointed out how many too close moments Harry and Niall had had while sitting together at the Brits. So now they're separated on either end of the little foursome and while Perrie's sure she looks odd sandwiched between One Direction, she still gets to sit next to Liam.

 

"I don't know how many times I've told you tonight but you look absolutely stunning," Liam murmurs, tucking a curled strand of hair behind her ear.

 

"Well feel free to continue telling me that," she replies, leaning in to kiss the corner of his mouth. He grins, turning to say something to Harry. She glances around the room, taking in the celebrities that she can see (and subtly looking for the one she _doesn’t_ want to see). Taylor Swift catches her eye from the front row; the blonde gives her a cheery little wave before turning back to her own boyfriend. Perrie scoots a little closer to Liam, nudging the arm rest up so she can tilt her head on his shoulder. She needs to just enjoy the night. She's decked head to toe in expensive stuff, she's at the bloody _Grammys,_ and she's with Liam. Nothing else matters.

 

Right?

 

///

 

The after party is _loud._ Music is pounding from the speakers, blurring the thoughts in Perrie's head and making her drink tremble in her hand. She leans against the wall at the edge of the club, idly sipping her overly sweet fruity cocktail and people watching. Liam saw some friend a few minutes back that he had to run off with but Perrie doesn't mind being a wallflower for once. The whole night's been so overwhelming that she needs a minute to breathe. It'd be nice to have at least one of her girls here but all she has are her aching feet and her clutch.

 

The next sip of her drink leaves her with nothing but crackling ice so she wanders back towards the open bar. "Um, hi!" she shouts to the bartender, "I had something pink and fruity but I don't remember what it was called!" The guy smiles blandly and takes her drink so he must understand what she had. She leans on the bar, getting up on her tiptoes to try and take some weight off her feet.

 

"I can't fucking believe you actually showed up with him," Perrie freezes. The world seems to dim, leaving only her and the low voice coming from her left.

 

Zayn.

  
"I'm sorry?" she keeps her eyes on the bottles behind the bar, taking in every single label and letter to avoid looking at him. She can smell the alcohol on his breath.

 

"You know what I mean, Perrie," she winces when he says her name but puts more focus on keeping the tears at bay, "You know, I never thought you'd be _that_ kind of girl."

 

"What the hell does that mean?"

 

He scoffs, "You know what it fucking means. Going after one of my old mates? I didn't think you'd ever act like such a slag." By some holy miracle, she manages to not slap him.

 

"I don't have to fucking listen to this," she hisses instead, "and I sure as _hell_ don't have to explain myself to _you."_ She turns to leave but he grabs her arm.

 

"I'm not done talking to you, Perrie!" he snaps.

 

"She's done talking to you," Liam's just _there,_ like a lightning bolt from the crowd and there's more fury burning in his eyes than Perrie's ever seen.

 

"This doesn't fucking involve you," Zayn growls as Liam helps Perrie get free. Perrie's got no choice but to look at her ex. Liam's not the only one furious though Zayn's eyes are blurry from the alcohol.

 

"If it involves Perrie, it involves me," Liam's every word is crisp and so icy you'd never guess that he and Zayn used to be best friends. Perrie glances past Zayn to Gigi, who's standing slightly behind him and looking just as confused and worried as Perrie feels. The girls share a look that has more pity on Gigi's end than Perrie had expected.

 

Zayn steps forward; Liam immediately nudges Perrie further behind him. It's a slightly, probably passive movement that still makes Perrie feel more solid. "Yeah, well you _shouldn't_ be involved, mate. Thought you were better than that too," Zayn sneers.

 

"You left her, Zayn. She doesn't belong to you. And I'm actually treating her right. So _you're_ the one that shouldn't be involved."

 

"What did you just say?" alright, this is going to get bad very soon. Liam's non-confrontational, she knows that, but Zayn is drunk and bullish and she can feel the tension boiling between them. She touches Liam's back; even through his suit, she can feel how tense he is. In another situation, she'd immediately make a plan on how to calm him down that involved more skin and lips. Right now, she knows that she needs to use words or even just her arms to straight up drag him out of the room.

 

Liam takes another step forward, towering over Zayn like the darkest thundercloud, "I said that I'm treating her right now because she deserves that. So you stay away from her." For someone as generally cheerful as Liam is, he sounds downright _menacing._ Zayn sneers again, stepping back and looking him both over.

 

"Maybe you two deserve each other. The bloke who used to be my best mate fucking my ex. Maybe you'll finally man up for a girl and hey, now you get the be the one she uses to stay relevant," Perrie chokes. For a split second, Zayn looks thoroughly pleased with himself, like he really managed to burn them both. But then Liam pulls his arm back and _punches_ Zayn so hard that the blonde goes flying. He knocks over two bar stools and forces Gigi to leap nimbly out of the way. The whole club seems to turn and stare at them so Perrie tries to hide behind Liam better. Her face is already burning both from Zayn's words and the commotion.

 

"Don't you _dare_ fucking talk about her like that, Zayn! You stay away from her and from me," security bustles through the stunned crowd to separate them as though Liam was about to continue punching (which, admittedly, he looks like he's considering).

 

One guard helps Zayn to his feet. Zayn seems to steady himself and even wipes some of the blood dripping from his nose off before the fire comes back, "You fucking cocksucker!" He lunges for Liam but is narrowly pulled back by the guard. "Both of you can go fuck yourselves!" he fumes, struggling against the burly, thoroughly unimpressed guard.

 

"Right back at you!" Liam snaps.   
 

"Sir, we're going to have to ask all of you to leave," the guard closest to Perrie and Liam says. Liam simply nods, curling his arm around Perrie's waist so tight it almost hurts. It's only once she has something to press up against that she realizes she's shaking.

 

"More than happy to," Liam shoots one more death glare at Zayn before guiding Perrie through the crowd. She keeps her head down and, as soon as they're outside in the flickering flashes again, covers her face with her clutch. Liam herds her into an available limo; she stumbles in and curls up as far away from the door as possible. Liam shuts the door and rolls down the partition just long enough to tell the driver where they're staying.

 

Then everything is silent. Perrie bends over, putting her head between her legs to try and stop this dizzy panic from overwhelming her. She hears Liam pull his phone out and the soft, electronic noise of him typing but doesn't ask why. She was just the reason for a fight in a crowded, A-list after party. It's going to be another headline that she never wanted to be part of. Now the tears are brimming in her eyes, trickling past her lashes to hit the soft carpeted ground, and she can't stop them.

 

"Perrie, are you okay?" the typing stops and Liam's voice is _his_ again, not that angry knife from before.

 

She swallows, sitting up again, "Y-yeah, I think so. That was just…crazy." Liam snorts, running his hand through his hair. His other hand, the one that punched Zayn, is red around the knuckles, "Are you alright?" she tilts her head towards his hand.

 

"Oh, erm, I'm fine. He's got a hard head, 's all," his smile, slight though it is, makes her feel better. Her phone buzzes in her lap and one glance down reveals what he was typing.

 

_@Real_Liam_Payne: Getting this out so u all hear it from me. An old friend said some horrible things about someone I care about tonight_

 

_@Real_Liam_Payne: and I punched said old friend. Not something I'd recommend but I'm not sorry. You don't insult the people I love and get away with it_

 

_@Real_Liam_Payne: just wanted all of you to know what actually happened! Xx_

 

"Well, that's one way to get the news out," she murmurs, giving into the urge to retweet everything. Fuck Zayn. She's got her side chosen in this war and it's the guy who just punched his ex-best friend for her.

 

"I wanted to say it before it got out in the news and stuff," Liam wrinkles his nose, "or before he has a chance to go out and spin it. 'S all about whose side comes out first, or so Harry says."

 

"No, no, that makes sense," she rereads the tweets and pauses. Her face heats up again, "S-someone you love, hmm?"

 

She's expecting Liam to get shifty, to call it a saying or something, but he levels her with a flat stare and nods, "Yeah, someone I love. I love you, Perrie."

 

She's the one who first said those words to Zayn. They were walking through her hometown in the snow and she'd blurted it out while they were standing at a stop light. Zayn hadn't even said it back for another month or two. And now Liam's saying it to her shortly after punching her ex-fiance. Somehow the latter is more romantic. "I love you too, Liam," she murmurs, actually managing to smile again. Liam smiles too, his real smile, and she can't help but fling herself across the limo and into his arms. He hums, pulling her in for a tight hug.

 

She kisses him, no longer caring about whether her lipstick smudges onto his lips, and it doesn't take long for the kiss to switch from emotional to passionate. She can't straddle him like she wants to in this dress but that might be a good thing. They are, after all, still in some random limo. "That dress better be easy to get off," he says, biting down on her lip.

 

She laughs, "I'm sure that between the two of us, we can figure it out." She wipes a slight smudge of pink off his chin.

 

"I really do love you," Liam drags his thumb across her cheek, "I don't care what he or anyone else has to say about it. And I want you to know that I don't think you're using me for any sort of relevancy, alright? I know you better than that." A weight that she hadn't even fully grasped disappears from her shoulders, letting her settle in closer.

 

"Thank you, Liam," she whispers, tucking her head under his chin. His hand runs down her back, lightly at first but then slower; his fingers dance across her spine and _dear God_ why aren't they at the hotel yet?

 

Her prayers are answered a moment later as the limo rumbles to a stop. Perrie slips out of Liam's lap just in time for the driver to open their door--lord knows that would've been a potential sight for the paparazzi. Liam gets out first, reaching back in to help her out. His hand settles on the small of her back again as they walk into the hotel. His skin feels warmer now; the back of her neck is heating up. She wants to jump him in the elevator but the camera is all too present so she manages to bite the fire in her stomach back until they're safely in their hotel room. As soon as the door is shut and locked behind him, Liam's got her back against the wall and his lips are crushed against hers.

 

She whimpers into his mouth, fisting her hands in the soft fabric of his suit. He grabs her ass, bringing her hips in line with his and he's already hard. This night has been a roller coaster but now she's racing towards the best climax (in more ways than one). His fingers find the zipper to her dress and then move up her bare back to undo the clasp for the halter. The red lace falls to the ground around her feet and is swiftly abandoned. Liam carries her back to the king bed, tossing her down and taking his suit jacket off. She kicks her heels away and shimmies out of her panty hose and thong. She waits until he's kneeling to take his shoes off to peel the adhesive bra off and drop it at the end of the bed.

 

After walking around in that heavy dress and those heels all night, being naked and on a horizontal surface is fucking _glorious._ Liam crawling on top of her, equally naked, seconds later makes everything better. She curls her fingers through his hair, pushing it back out of his face. "Now I do want to say that I'm not exactly _pleased_ that you punched Zayn in front of all those people but," she starts as he drags his mouth across her collarbone and then down her chest.

 

"He deserved it," Liam mumbles into her stomach.

 

"You didn't let me finish! _But_ it was really fucking hot watching you defend me like that and--ah!" she squeaks as Liam closes his lips around her clit, "Fuck, Liam!" she sags into the bed, staring blurrily up at the light fixture. Liam hums from between her thighs, slipping two fingers inside her as his tongue keeps working her clit. She fists her hands in his hair again, tugging him in closer and grinding down onto his mouth. His beard is scratching her thighs, working her up even higher, and she's falling through her orgasm before she's really even gotten to enjoy things.

 

He kisses his way back up her body; she spreads her legs for him before he's even settling between them. "I fucking adore you, Perrie," he whispers into her neck with his lips pressed against her pulse. She wraps her legs around his hips, sealing him against her.

 

"I," her words die off. She'd like to just write it off as a result of his cock slipping inside her but it's more than that. It's that fact that she's not sure what else she can say to him right now. There aren't enough words to define the mess of emotions in her head. So she kisses him instead and hopes that he can just _feel_ it. Judging by his slight smile against her lips, he knows.

 

He starts rocking his hips against hers in a steady rhythm that has her toes curling. It's not until his hands move to her hips that things start to speed up. Perrie lets him set the pace, egging him on through kisses and the occasional rake of her nails down the sweaty skin of his back. She doesn't mind giving in and getting fucked through the mattress, not right now. "God, Perrie," he groans, putting one arm down by her head to prop himself up. She jams one hand down between their bodies to find her clit, working it in time with his thrusts until she comes again. Her moan echoes through the room, mingling with Liam's at the end when he has his own orgasm. She keeps moving her hips until he stops, sinking down on top of her. They breathe in time and Perrie just closes her eyes to let it all sink in. "I love you," he whispers.

 

"You know, I don't think I'll ever get tired of hearing you say that so you should just keep doing it, yeah?" Liam chuckles, nipping her shoulder. "And I'll keep saying it back to you because it's just as true for me. I love you," Liam curls her still woozy body up tighter in a hug, "My pro-fighter boyfriend."

 

"That might be a stretch."

 

"Shush, let me enjoy the moment," Liam shuts up and Perrie closes her eyes. She's in love again, officially, and there's no doubt that she and Liam have gone more than public after tonight. But she doesn't fucking care. She has him and right now, she thinks that they're utterly unstoppable.

**Author's Note:**

> This directly precedes my other story, Ready To Run (which should be self evident since it's next in the series).


End file.
